McNabb Revives Eagles as Browns Revert to Form

It may be too little, too late, but Donovan McNabb is leading the Eagles on a charge toward the playoffs.

Three weeks ago, the Eagles looked finished. They had lost twice in three games and tied Cincinnati, 13-13. During the 36-7 loss to Baltimore, coach Andy Reid benched quarterback Donovan McNabb in favor of Kevin Kolb. But McNabb returned as starter and has Philadelphia on a three-game winning streak after its blowout of the Cleveland Browns on Monday night. The Eagles stand only a half-game behind Dallas, Atlanta and Tampa Bay in the NFC wild-card race. To make the playoffs, though, the Eagles must beat Washington and Dallas and have Atlanta or Tampa Bay lose at least once.

McNabb threw for 290 yards and two scores in leading Philadelphia to the 30-10 win over Cleveland. “The Donovan McNabb that returned to the team after his 30-minute vacation didn’t look like the one that had terrible games against the Giants, Cincinnati and Baltimore,” Bob Ford writes in the Philadelphia Inquirer. “The new boss — same as the old boss — threw the ball with both zip and touch, depending on what was needed, and didn’t throw interceptions.”

Sam Donnellon of the Daily News wasn’t too impressed with Reid’s play calls, especially the lob pass that was picked off in the end zone and almost run back for a touchdown on the final play of the first half. “The Birds went into the locker room at halftime with a 17-3 lead. So why did it feel so, so … yucky?” Donnellon asks. “Was it because Brian Westbrook had to run about 100 yards on the final play to prevent a 98-yard interception return from turning into a 17-10 lead? Was it because your team’s touch-football playcalling had directly resulted in 10 lost points?”

For Browns fans, what was supposed to be a better season is ending like so many past seasons — with a losing record. But that wasn’t the case last season, when the Browns finished 10-6 and just missed the playoffs: hence the hope for this year. “Two more weeks, two more games, and it’s finally over,” Terry Pluto writes in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “Of course, the season ended for this team and these fans so long ago. That is the sorriest part of all.”

* * *

Coach Tommy Tuberville left Auburn after a 5-7 season and was given a $5.1 million parting gift. The trouble started when two African-American coaching candidates, Turner Gill and Rodney Garner, were overlooked as his replacement. Auburn’s new coach is Gene Chizik, who is white and who was only 5-19 at Iowa State, including 10 straight losses to end the season. Chizik’s hiring has led to charges of racism: It took Gill only three seasons to coach the University of Buffalo to the Mid-American Conference championship, and Garner is a highly respected assistant coach at Georgia.

“There are four black head coaches in major college football, including one at a BCS conference, Miami’s Randy Shannon,” Dan Wetzel writes at Yahoo Sports. “There’s no perfect number. Every school should hire regardless of race. This isn’t a racial or social obligation. But what does someone like Gill need to do to become the best candidate, to be the so-called ‘best fit’? How do you convince one of these old boy search committees?”

The Mobile Press-Register’s Paul Finebaum doesn’t like Auburn’s choice, either. “The hiring of an African-American also would have put to bed the image in some people’s minds that a plantation mentality still permeates the cool air on the loveliest village on the Plains,” Finebaum writes.

CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd is blunt in assessing Auburn’s choice. “Had Chizik been black he would not have been considered with a 5-19 head coaching record,” Dodd writes. “Because he is white, and Auburn was becoming desperate, he fit.”

* * *

No. 11 Syracuse lost to Cleveland State on Cedric Jackson’s 60-foot prayer at the buzzer, 72-69, to deal the Orange their first loss of the season. While Cleveland State coach Gary Waters gave all the credit to God — “He guided that ball. Not us. It had nothing to do with us” — Syracuse Post-Standard columnist Bud Poliquin wasn’t so sure. “Maybe God is a Cleveland State fan. Maybe he was making it up to the Vikings for recently showering them with all those 4-25 and 8-22 and 10-21 seasons, each of which had to have looked like so many plagues of locusts and gnats and frogs back there in Ohio,” Poliquin writes. “But perhaps it was something else. Perhaps it was deserved punishment for an 11th-ranked Syracuse University outfit that had for too many contests dared Fate … and had shrugged after having done so.”

* * *

The economic crisis that’s spreading around the world isn’t sparing the sports world. General Motors, Ford and Chrysler are reducing their sponsorship of Nascar, and many top sponsors are exiting. A decade of phenomenal growth in TV ratings and attendance has started to reverse, Susanna Hamner writes in the New York Times. Robert Weintraub of Slate thinks that with the Big Three battling to survive, the best thing for Nascar would be to fold. “It would be one thing if Nascar were exceptionally strong and this were merely a cyclone to be ridden out in a basement somewhere,” Weintraub writes. “But the sport has been leaking oil for some time.”

* * *

A 6-18 start in his second season, and a 44-62 record overall doomed Reggie Theus as coach of the Sacramento Kings. Theus, whose firing Monday marked the fourth Kings coaching change in three years, was replaced on an interim basis by Kenny Natt. Sacramento Bee columnist Ailene Voisin has a request. “No more rookies, no more neophytes, no more mistakes,” she writes. “Geoff Petrie and the Maloofs need to find the right guy this time. There will be qualified, experienced, proven NBA head-coaching candidates out there. It’s time to attract one, sign him to a multiyear contract and put an end to the Kings’ chronic coaching charade.”

* * *

India won the first of two five-day cricket Test matches against England by six wickets in stunning fashion Monday, led by Sachin Tendulkar’s 41st Test century of his career. It was a fitting end to the match in Chennai, coming so soon after the attacks in Tendulkar’s hometown of Mumbai that killed at least 170 people. “For almost two decades he has epitomized the advance of Indian cricket and for most of that time he has been idolized and worshipped by the entire country,” the Independent’s Stephen Brenkley writes about Tendulkar. “But there was something more resonant yesterday. It was his city, Mumbai, which was so rudely disfigured by terrorists a fortnight ago, and he is its favorite and most famous son. That Tendulkar should bat with such assurance yesterday, supplying a masterclass of how to pace an innings and measure strokes, was a reminder that Mumbai will return.”

* * *

Too often we read about selfish athletes for whom it’s all about the adulation and the money and not about respect and helping others. Then there are the Chicago Blackhawks. General manager Dale Tallon was in a small Ontario town north of Toronto in November for his father’s funeral. All of a sudden, Blackhawks players, coaches, trainers and the team president streamed through the doors to support Tallon and his mother. Thanks to the Internet, the feel-good story spread around the world. “Why did it resonate with people?” Rick Morrissey asks in the Chicago Tribune. “Because it answers a deep desire for our faith to be restored in athletes.”

* * *

The new season has brought the elite surfers back to the dangerous Mavericks venue behind Pillar Point in Half Moon Bay, Calif. Greg Long is one of those surfers searching for massive waves, and on a recent day he was engulfed by a powerful wave. Long, one of the world’s best surfers, came up before too long. Still, many have suffered serious injuries battling the crushing waves, Pete Thomas writes in the Los Angeles Times.

– Tip of the Fix cap to reader Don Hartline.

Found a good column from the world of sports? Don’t keep it to yourself — write to us at dailyfix@wsj.com and we’ll consider your find for inclusion in the Daily Fix.

SPORTS, THE JOURNAL WAY

Be sure to check your Daily Fix all week long. The Fix's daily rundown of the best sportswriting on the Web is joined by features such as The Count, a look at the most revealing sports stats, as well as regular live reports of major sports events. Tell us what you think of the Fix at dailyfixlinks@gmail.com.

In baseball, there is a long-standing tradition of pro teams inviting college teams to play them in preseason exhibitions. A look at this odd tradition, and the awkward, no-win situations it creates for the pros.